Now, to you, fir. Th'extremetie of law

Awards you to be branded in the front,

For this your calumny; But, fince it pleaseth

HORACE (the partie wrong'd) t'intreat, of CAESAR,

A mitigation of that iufter doome;

With CAESARS tongue, thus we pronounce your fentence.

That coate, and cap; and henceforth, thinke thy felfe

595

DEMETRIVS FANNIVS, thou fhalt here put on

No other, then they make thee: vow to weare them

600

In euery faire, and generous assembly,

Till the best fort of minds shall take to knowledge
As well thy fatisfaction, as thy wrongs.

HORA. Only (graue Prætor) here, in open court,

I craue the oath, for good behauiour,
May be adminiftred vnto them both.

605

VIRG. HORACE, it fhall: TIBVLLVS, giue it them. TIBV. RVFVS LABERIVS CRISPINVS, and DEMETRIVS FANNIVS, Lay your hands on your hearts. You shall here folemnely attest, and fweare; That neuer (after 610 this inftant) either, at Booke-fellers ftalls, in tauernes, two-penny roomes, 'tyring houses, noble-mens buttries, puifne's chambers (the best, and farthest places, where you are admitted to come) you shall once offer, or dare (thereby to endeare your felfe the more to any player, 615 enghle, or guiltie gull, in your companie) to maligne, traduce, or detract the person, or writings of QVINTVS HORACIVS FLACCVS; or any other eminent man, tranfcending you in merit, whom your enuy fhall find caufe to worke vpon, either, for that, or for keeping himfelfe 620 in better acquaintance, or enioying better friends: Or if (tranfported by any fodaine and defperate refolution) you doe; That then, you shall not vnder the baftoun, or in the next prefence, being an honorable 592 sir. [to Demetrius.] G, N 610 atteft] contest Q 613-4 ()] G, N batoon G

batton N

615-6 ()] G, N

616 ingle N

624 bastoun]

affembly of his fauourers, bee brought as voluntary 625 gent. to undertake the for-fwearing of it. Neither shall you at any time (ambitiously, affecting the title of the vntruffers, or whippers of the age) fuffer the itch of writing to ouer-run your performance in libell; vpon paine of being taken up for lepers in wit, and (lofing 630 both your time, and your papers) bee irrecouerably forfeited to the hofpitall of Fooles. So helpe you our Roman gods, and the Genius of great CAESAR.

VIRG. So: now diffolue the court.

HORA. TIBV. GALL.

to CAESAR,

MECO. VIRG. And thankes

635

That thus hath exercis'd his patience.

CAES. We haue, indeed, you worthiest friends of

CAESAR.

It is the bane, and torment of our eares,

To heare the difcords of those iangling rimers,
That, with their bad and scandalous practices,
Bring all true arts, and learning in contempt.

640

[348] But let not your high thoughts defcend fo low, As these despised obiects; Let them fall,

With their flat groueling foules: Be you your felues.
And as with our best fauours you stand crown'd:

So let your mutuall loues be ftill renown'd.

Enuy will dwell, where there is want of merit,

Though the deferuing man fhould cracke his fpirit.

645

SONG.

B

feares

650

Lush, folly, blush: here's none that
The wagging of an affes eares,
Although a wooluifh cafe he weares.

Detraction is but bafeneffe varlet;

And apes are apes, though cloth'd in fcarlet.

THE END.

Rumpatur, quifquis rumpitur inuidia.

TO THE READER.

F, by looking on what is past, thou hast deferu'd that name, I am willing thou should't yet know more, by that which followes; an apologeticall Dialogue: which was only once spoken vpon the stage, and all the answere I euer gaue, to fundry impotent libells then caft out (and fome yet remayning) against me, and this Play. Wherein I take no pleasure to reuiue the times, but that Pofteritie may make a difference, betweene their manners that prouok'd me then, and mine that neglected them euer. For, in these ftrifes, and on fuch perfons, were as wretched to affect a victorie, as it is vnhappy to be committed with them. Non annorum canicies eft laudanda, fed morum.

SONG.] CANTVS. Qom. G 652 baseness', varlet G 653 [Exeunt. G, N

5

ΙΟ

THE END.] Finis Actus quinti & vltimi. | Exeunt. Q om. 1716+

(The address to the reader which appears in Quarto (cf. our collation) by way of epilogue is here appended by Gifford. In Whalley's edition it appears as a foot-note at the end of the play.)

The Perfons.

NASVTVS, POLY POSVS, AVTHOR.

Pray you let's goe fee him, how he lookes
After thefe libells. POLY. O, vex'd, vex'd, I
warrant you.

NASV. Doe you thinke fo? I fhould be sorry for
him,

If I found that. POLY. O, they are fuch bitter things,
[349] He cannot choose. NAS. But, is he guilty of
'hem?

POL. Fuh! that's no matter. NAS. No? POL.
No. Here's his lodging;

Wee'll steale vpon him: or, let's liften, stay.

He has a humor oft t' talke t' himselfe.

NAS. They are your manners lead me, not mine

owne.

AVT. The Fates haue not spun him the coursest

thred

That (free from knots of perturbation)

5

ΙΟ

Doth yet fo liue, although but to himselfe,

As he can safely scorne the tongues of flaues;

And neglect Fortune, more then she can him.

It is the happiest thing, this not to be
Within the reach of malice; It prouides

A man fo well, to laugh of iniuries:

And neuer fends him farder for his vengeance
Then the vex'd bofome of his enemy.

I, now, but thinke, how poore their spight sets off,
Who, after all their wafte of fulphurous tearmes,

The... AVTHOR.) SCENE, The Author's Lodgings. Enter NASUTUS and POLYPOSUS. G, N I NASUTUS. 1716, W Nas. G, N 9 own. [They come forward; the scene Author in his study. G They draw near. The 17 of] off 1640+

5 he is W
7 let' N
opens, and discovers the
second scene opens. N

And burst-out thunder of their charged mouthes,
Haue nothing left, but the vníau'ry fmoake
Of their blacke vomit, to vpbrayd themfelues:
Whilft I, at whom they shot, fit here shot-free,
And as vn-hurt of enuy, as vnhit.

25

POL. I, but the Multitude, they thinke not fo, fir, They thinke you hit, and hurt: and dare giue out

Your filence argues it, in not reioyning

To this, or that late libell? AVT. 'Laffe, good rout!

30

I can affoord them leaue, to erre so still:

And, like the barking students of Beares-Colledge,

To swallow vp the garbadge of the time

With greedy gullets, whilft my felfe fit by

Pleaf'd, and yet tortur'd, with their beastly feeding.

35

'Tis a sweet madneffe runnes along with them,

To thinke, all that are aym'd at, ftill are ftrooke:

Then, where the shaft ftill lights, make that the marke,

And fo, each feare, or feauer-fhaken foole

May challenge TEVCERS hand in archery.
Good troth, if I knew any man fo vile,

40

To act the crimes, these whippers reprehend,

Or what their feruile apes gefticulate,

I should not then much muse, their fhreds were lik'd;

Since ill men haue a luft t'heare others finnes,

45

And good men haue a zeale to heare finne fham'd.

But when it is all excrement, they vent,

Base filth, and offall: or thefts, notable

As Ocean pyracies, or high-way stands:

And not a crime there tax'd, but is their owne,

[350] Or what their owne foule thoughts fuggefted to

them,

And, that in all their heat of taxing others,

Not one of them, but liues himselfe (if knowne)

Improbior fatyram fcribente cinado.

50

26 [Pol. and Nas. discover themselves. G [POL. and NAS. enter. N 27 they] om. N

all N

28 out. N

36 fweet] secret N

45 ill]